Is This The Worst Basketball Brawl In The World?

Yes. Well if it isn’t, it’s certainly in the running for it. Overnight Australia’s Boomers took on the Philippines at the FIBA World Cup qualifiers and with four minutes left in the third quarter, it turned into an all out brawl.

By the end of the fight, which looked more like a scene out of wrestling with punches, chairs thrown and fly kicks (we kid you not), a total of 13 players were ejected. Players and officials from both sides were involved alongside angry fans who also joined in the wild scuffle never before seen in Australia’s basketball history.

The fight started when Australia was leading with a 79-48 score before things turned physical with Philippines guard Roger Ray Pogoy sending Australia’s Chris Goulding to the ground with an elbow.

Team mate Daniel Kickert retaliated immediately with an elbow of his own before the game descended into absolute chaos with a flurry of punches, kicks and chairs being thrown.

Nathan Sobey was also singled out in the fight when more than ten Filipino players set upon him outside of the court. He had to be helped out of the fight by his team mates.
Naturally the game was halted for more than 30 minutes so that referees could assess the situation.

The International Basketball Federation said in a statement that it will hand down punishments to players in the coming days.

“Following the incident that occurred in the third quarter of the Philippines-Australia game on Monday in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Asian Qualifiers, FIBA will now open disciplinary proceedings against both teams,” read the statement.